Prosecution Deemed Unproven, Nurhadi Hopes for Fair Verdict

The lawyer for Nurhadi, Secretary of the Supreme Court (MA) from 2011 to 2016, Mohammad Ikhsan, hopes that the panel of judges at the Corruption Court at the Central Jakarta District Court will deliver a fair verdict in his case. “We hope the panel of judges will give a fair decision and recognise the criminalisation efforts being carried out against Nurhadi,” Ikhsan said in a statement received on Saturday (28/3). On Friday (27/3), Nurhadi responded to the public prosecutor’s reply (duplik) in the trial at the Corruption Court. His client leaves the matter entirely to the panel of judges, with the verdict reading scheduled for Wednesday (1/4). He explained that Nurhadi has conducted reverse proof by detailing his total income from 2011 to 2018 from salary and allowances, amounting to approximately Rp25.8 billion, plus income from his swiftlet nest business since 1981, generating approximately Rp41.14 billion. In total, he continued, all this income reaches around Rp66.9 billion, all of which has been reported and recorded in the Annual Tax Notification Letter (SPT) for 2002 and as stated in the attachments to the State Organiser’s Wealth Report (LHKPN) for 2012. He added that various assets accused by the prosecutors as money laundering crime (TPPU) assets, consisting of a villa in Megamendung, three apartment units in Infinity Tower Jakarta, and one Mercedes Sprinter vehicle, which have been calculated in the trial, amount to only approximately Rp28 billion, thus far below Nurhadi’s total income or receipts. Another member of the advocacy team, Muhammad Rudjito, assessed that the public prosecutor (JPU) could not prove the charges throughout the trial. “The judges can certainly see clearly that the prosecutors’ charges are very assumptive and sometimes seem hallucinatory because they cannot prove the charges. Their demand is also not based on proof law,” he stated. After the duplik hearing, Nurhadi is convinced that he is entirely innocent of the JPU’s accusations regarding the alleged gratification receipt and TPPU case, which has entered the final stage of the trial. Therefore, he hopes the panel of judges can see the truth that has been revealed based on the facts of the trial he has undergone. “Throughout this trial, the prosecutors could not prove their charges. On the contrary, I have conducted reverse proof of the assets I own and their sources,” Nurhadi said. Regarding this conviction, Nurhadi once challenged the prosecutors to perform mubahalah at the Wednesday (25/3) hearing. However, the JPU did not respond to his request. Mubahalah is a heavy oath or mutual cursing prayer between two disputing parties in a matter of truth (especially faith) to prove who is right and wrong, where the lying party is ready to receive Allah’s curse. In the case of alleged gratification receipt in the court environment from 2013 to 2019 and TPPU from 2012 to 2018, Nurhadi is demanded a prison sentence of 7 years, a fine of Rp500 million subsidiary prison for 140 days, and to pay replacement money of Rp137.16 billion subsidiary 3 years imprisonment, for being accused of receiving gratification worth Rp137.16 billion. The gratification is alleged to have been received from parties involved in cases in the court environment, both at the first instance, appeal, cassation, and judicial review levels, during Nurhadi’s tenure or after he finished serving as MA Secretary. Nurhadi faces penalties as regulated in Article 12B in conjunction with Article 18 of Law Number 31 of 1999 on the Eradication of Corruption Crimes as amended and supplemented by Law Number 20 of 2001 and Article 3 of Law Number 8 of 2010 on the Prevention and Eradication of Money Laundering Crimes jo. Article 65 paragraph (1) first of the Criminal Code.